


Second Hand Faith

by opheliac_fairy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Romance, pagan!merlin, pagan!morgana, witch!merlin, witch!morgana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-14 06:53:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1256956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opheliac_fairy/pseuds/opheliac_fairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Morgana are best friends, taking an apprenticeship at Gaius' witchcraft store. But when Morgana comes to him with a request and a dinner invitation, suddenly her brother, Arthur, can't seem to get enough of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me if I get any info wrong. Paganism is a lot, so it's possible I'm misinformed.

Merlin lived an unconventional lifestyle. For starters, he was a pagan. Secondly, he was a witch. And thirdly, he ran an occult shop with long-time family friend, Gaius. Gaius mostly ran the shop, whereas Merlin was stuck with whatever jobs Gaius was too old, or too tired to do, such as readings or heavy lifting.

The shop had quite a few regulars, such as Freya, who may or may not have a winding crush on Merlin, and Morgana, who scared the crap out of him. She was cute, mostly friendly, _powerful_ , and most of all, a quick learner. But she was a praying mantis, ready to bite the head off of anyone who stood in her way. And she let everyone know this, not bothering with looking cute, skipping straight to fiery and fierce. Because she was so scary, neither Gaius nor Merlin could refuse her when she asked to take up an apprenticeship. Not that either of them minded, though Merlin, himself, was still learning, and Gaius was amongst the strictest teacher in the hemisphere. But if she could get over that, well then so could they.

Morgana showed up every couple of days and studied with Merlin, sometimes on magick or entities, or sometimes on their university work. Sometimes Gaius would ask them to cast a spell, or conjure up a potion, or piece together an amulet, which Merlin would talk Morgana through as she skillfully did as she was told. Sometimes, when they were completely out of things to do, they’d go in the backroom, and flip on a movie. Merlin would always try to pick a movie first, as Morgana preferred horror films, and, while he knew they were just movies, he would always get terrified and lose sleep on those days when she chose the movie.

Needless to say, the two were good friends.

☆

“Merlin,” Morgana whined, “I need a spell for my brother.”

Merlin lit up, always happy to perform a spell at someone else’s benefit. “What kind of spell? Anti-anxiety? Anti-depression? To cope with addiction?”

“A love spell,” she said, smiling wickedly, “I need him to fall in love, as soon as possible.”

His jaw dropped. “What?”

“You heard me! I need him to fall in love! He’s way too lonely, and he never commits to anyone. I think it’s about time he actually met someone and got serious about them. It’ll be good for him, I swear—“

“Morgana! Stop! I’m not helping you force someone into falling in love with someone. That’s like—That’s like emotional rape. I’m not doing that.”

“Come on, Merlin, please?”

“No.”

“Gaius, what do you think?” she asked, peaking back to the back room, where Gaius was hiding.

With a _tsk_ , he said, “Spells that force love and attraction on unwilling participates are assault on a person’s emotions. Try a spell that encourages or speeds up the rate in which he’d fall into natural love. There’s beyond plenty in your books.”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Fine, I’ll just set him up with someone and do things the old fashion way.”

Morgana didn’t show up for a week after that. Merlin had started to worry that he upset her, and had gone as far as to look in his textbooks for something close to what she was asking for, but more consensual. But when Morgana showed up the following Monday, she hadn’t said a single word about it. Instead, she had asked Gaius and Merlin to dinner at her house with the family.

Merlin, growing up financially insecure and thus never one to pass up a meal, had agreed. Gaius, on the other hand, had declined, saying he had things to do, places to be. Morgana assured Merlin it’d be fun, that he could bring his tarot cards and they and her brother could spend the evening talking to the gods. He said he’d bring them, and they could even come up with a spell or two while they were together. Gaius, of course, approved of this, as he always loved a new spell to put in his grimoires.

She told him to dress up, but not like in a tuxedo, but “like a nice shirt or something.”

Merlin took this as a sign, a sign that her family was way to formal for him, and that he should probably back down now.

“But don’t worry,” she told him, “It’s okay because my dad’s so uptight about witchcraft and paganism, I want to leave a good impression and show him we’re not all naked hippies or anything.”

And from what Merlin had heard, that was true. Her father was uptight about witchcraft and paganism. Morgana had once told a horrifying story about how he’d tossed out her altar, thrown all the candles and incense in the trash, shredded all the papers, ate all the food. And when she was learning about divination, he’d tossed out her cards, burned her Ouija board, took apart her pendulum. And that only made Merlin more nervous, that now he was no longer just representing himself, but also an entire practice _and_ a series of religions.

But somehow he managed, and showed up the evening of the dinner.

☆

Morgana’s house was huge, practically a mansion. Merlin didn’t know what he had expected, but it certainly wasn’t _that_. It had to be three stories tall and three wings long, absolutely massive in comparison to Merlin’s tiny flat. Not what he was expecting _at_ _all_. Nor was he expecting a hot blond, who actually looked nothing like Morgana, to answer the door.

“Oh,” he said, taking on a tone that sounded… disappointed, “You must be Merlin. You look different than I expected.”

“What did you expect?” asked Merlin, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

“Someone more handsome,” sighed the man, “The way Morgana talks about you, I’d have hoped you were at least handsome.”

Offended, Merlin through his hands down and exclaimed, “Hey! I’m not that bad looking, you know!”

He could hear Morgana elsewhere in the room, calling, “Arthur! Be nice! He’s our guest.”

“Be lucky you’re her friend,” he told him, and opened the door to let him in.

The living room was just as grand as the exterior, with lush furniture and carpet and tile, and most of all Morgana, sitting on a sofa in a gorgeous blue gown. “Merlin!” she cheered, getting up to meet him in the middle of the room, “I’m so glad you could make it. Dinner’s almost ready, but you can hang out with me and Arthur until then.”

With a look of disgust, Arthur asked, “You’re not going to do that witchcraft stuff, are you?”

“Why shouldn’t we?” asked Merlin. And then Arthur looked baffled.

“ _He_ ,” said Morgana, “Believes witchcraft includes summoning demons.”

“Oh,” hummed Merlin, “Well that’s not true at all. Witchcraft, itself, is actually secular – that means not religious – however you can make it religious, and you _can_ summon demons for you magic, however, not everyone does that. I’m a green witch – that means I use herbs and natural things. I summon nature. Morgana works with the fae, that means she relies on the fae and their magic, as well as her own, to do it.”

By now, Arthur looked absolutely perplexed. His mouth hung open, and his eyes stared at Merlin as if he’d just been taught the meaning of life. “So there’s no demons, no evil, none of that?”

“Well, there can be. However, that isn’t my practice.”

Arthur had asked Merlin a lot of questions about witchcraft and paganism that night. He asked questions like, “Is Wicca paganism?” or, “Is witchcraft a religion?” or, “I was always taught that Wicca and witchcraft were the same thing, what do you mean they’re not?” It was obvious to Merlin that he never had a real exposure to witchcraft and paganism outside Morgana, who, due to her father’s strict anti-pagan agenda, had to keep secret. If he had to tell the truth, he felt bad for him. To Merlin, paganism and witchcraft was such a huge part of his life, things would be so different without them. In Arthur, he saw himself before he found his religion and practice. So he decided to let go all his rude comments, and just smile and correct him.

It was only when Uther, their father, showed up that he shut up.

“Daddy!” greeted Morgana, smiling a toothy smile as she got up to give her father a hug, “This is Merlin, my friend that works at the shop.”

Uther reached out for a handshake, which Merlin timidly accepted. He could see it in his face how much he didn’t want to shake his hand, and Merlin hoped he couldn’t see it back in his. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” said Uther.

Merlin smiled and nodded, saying, “Yeah! Morgana’s told me so much about you.”

“Good things, I hope.”

“Yeah! Of course! Only good things,” he lied, hoping his voice wasn’t shaking too much.

☆

That night, they had steak and vegetables for dinner, which Merlin was ever happy to eat. Morgana occasionally shot him a look, trying to convey to him to slow down and keep his manners.

During dinner, no one mentioned witchcraft, or paganism, or Wicca, or polytheism. Merlin was partially grateful about that, as it was not only a pain to explain to someone what paganism was, but most people already have a preconceived and offensive notion about what it was. They did, however, talk about school. Merlin informed Uther what classes he was taking, where he was taking them, and what he did after school. Uther seemed surprised that Merlin was taking the classes he was – quite a few sciences and maths – and Merlin was glad he could impress.

“I thought pagans didn’t believe in science.”

“Wh-what?” asked Merlin.

Uther repeated, “I thought pagans believed in ancient rituals and mythology. Not science.”

Merlin blinked. “Isn’t it possible to believe both? Christians do it all the time.”

“Well that’s different.”

He didn’t want to fight, so he just let it go.

After dinner, Merlin and Morgana went upstairs to piece together a prosperity jar, when half way through, came in Arthur.

“What’re you guys making?” he asked.

Morgana smiled and answered proudly, “A prosperity jar. It makes you prosperous.”

“That’s cool… Can I watch?”

“Sure!” said Merlin, smiling brightly. He was always happy to enlighten people.

At nine, Merlin received a call from Gaius requesting help closing down shop. He bid Morgana and Arthur farewell, and headed off, completely unaware of what Arthur was planning.


	2. Chapter 2

☆

When Merlin arrived at work the next day, he hadn’t expected much – a visit from Freya at the most, and a visit from Morgana in the least. What he hadn’t expected, however, was a visit from Arthur. It had been in the afternoon, while Merlin was taking the readings after Gaius grew tired and dry-mouthed. He had just told his client that the cards depicted luck in her near future and dismay in the distant future, when Gaius poked his head in the door – something he never did with a client in the room – and said, “You have a visitor. He’s getting rather testy.”

Assuming he meant another reading, Merlin just made a face and said he’d get to them when he was done. “Some people are just impatient,” he told the client. To his surprise, _some people_ happened to include Arthur.

“Oh, hi,” said Merlin, awkwardly, “Are you here for a reading?”

Arthur looked down at the table where the deck of tarot cards was placed politely in the center and asked, “You mean like a tarot reading?”

With a nod, he replied, “Gaius taught me when I was a teenager, and I’ve been helping out ever since. It takes up a lot of energy, now that he’s gotten older.”

He sat down in front of Merlin and looked at the deck with a hard, firm look of concentration. “How does it work? What do they do?”

“Basically,” Merlin began, “You ask a question or for insight, I shuffle the deck, and the cards I lay out are supposed to represent the answer.”

“Is it accurate?”

“Sometimes.”

With a scowl, Arthur asked, “What about when it’s wrong?”

Merlin shrugged. “Not all entities can tell the future. But I heard Lucifer was pretty good at it.” When Arthur gave a look of disgust, Merlin couldn’t help but snicker. “But no, seriously, what do you want to ask about?”

“Uh…What do most people ask about?”

With a frown, Merlin stated, “You didn’t come here for a reading. Did you?”

Grinning, Arthur answered, “No, I kind of came to see you.”

“I’m kind of busy. Why not come back tomorrow when Gaius is taking the readings?”

Looking around, Arthur hissed, “You don’t have any other customers!”

“Yeah, but I kind of need to talk to your sister.”

☆

“Morgana, what did you do!”

Morgana’s jaw dropped as she took on the expression of a dumb codfish. “What are you talking about? I didn’t _do_ anything.”

“Oh sure,” Merlin hollered, throwing up his hands in frustration, “Your brother just so happens to fancy me for no reason, completely coincidentally, right after you asked about spells _forcing_ him to fall in love!”

With a _tsk_ , she replied, “Merlin, are you implying that you’re not worth falling for? That’s a clear cut sign of low self-esteem. You should work on that.”

“What we need to work on,” he shouted, and could see Gaius peaking out of the back room, “Are your morals!”

“But I haven’t done anything wrong, Merlin.”

“I know what you did.”

“Is this some type of horror film or something? Oooh, I know what you did last summer – Good job, Merlin, you scared me.”

“You hexed your brother.”

“I’m offended.”

“You should be.”

Morgana stood and grabbed her coat from the back of the chair. With a pout, she hollered back at him, “I’m leaving! And you’ll be damn lucky if I show up again!” She marched out the door, being especially sure to slam it behind her, causing a jar full of liquids and herbs to fall and crash on the floor.

Gaius stumbled into the room then, adjusting his glasses on his face and asking, “Now what was that all about?”

“Morgana put a love spell on Arthur,” said Merlin, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Do you know for a fact?” he asked.

“Well… no….” He looked down at his feet, trying to think of all the proof and how to explain, “But why else would Arthur be into me? And right after she asked for a love spell? Come on, it’s obvious!”

“Now, Merlin,” Gaius began, in that voice that Merlin knew meant a lecture, “I’m not going to say you’re wrong, but if you want Morgana to confess, you’ll need more proof than that. Try asking her brother – what’s his name? Arthur? – to give you some clues as to what type of spell she put on him.”

Merlin groaned, “But he’s so annoying, and he’s like a baby when it comes to magic. A prejudice baby.”

“You were but a baby when I met you, Merlin.”

“Yeah, but I was literally a baby. That’s different. I’ve done this stuff my whole life. And so did my father. And his father. It’s easy to get annoyed when people are clueless and rude.”

“Just tough it out if you wish to do the right thing and break the spell.”

“Fine,” he griped, “But only because I want to do the right thing.”

Merlin and Arthur had met up the very next day, at one of Merlin’s favorite book stores, in the same neighborhood as Gaius’s shop. When Arthur arrived, however, Merlin couldn’t help but notice the shade of gold his hair was, or how big his muscles were, or how tall he was. He decided he was showing off today, trying to get him to swoon. But that wouldn’t work. Merlin had more self control than that. Plus, he was still annoying as balls.

“So,” Arthur asked, a little bit impatient, “What did you need so urgently? You said it was important. It better be good.”

Merlin, who had already selected a stack of books on love spells, potions, and sachets, flipped through the pages of one of the books and asked, “Has Morgana given you anything strange, lately? Like herbs, or flowers?”

“No.”

With a frown, he continued to flip through the pages, “What about sigils, or sachets?”

“No.”

Scowling now, he asked again, “What about potions, or teas?”

“No.”

In a growl, he asked again, “What about new gods or goddesses? Maybe Greek ones who love drama and go by the name Aphrodite? Or Egyptian ones called Isis?”

“Wh- Merlin, you’re being stupid. What’s all this about?”

“N-nothing!”

“Then what the bloody hell are you rambling about?”

After a slight hesitation, he blurted out, “Roses! Has she planted any roses?”

“No! Now answer me!”

“I can’t,” he squeaked.

“Why not?”

“You’ll get really, really mad.”

“I’m already really, really mad.”

“Then you’ll be really, really, _really_ mad!”

Arthur grabbed Merlin by the collar of his shirt, causing him to drop the book onto his lap, sliding down onto the floor with a bang. “Now you listen here, Merlin, my sister is a good person, and she certainly wouldn’t put any spells on me without my permission, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Of—Of course not.”

“Good.” He let go and smiled proudly. “I’ll call you,” he said, and turned, and left.

Alone now, Merlin cursed under his breath and muttered, “Gods, I hate this.”


End file.
